FIC: We All Fall Down - Part 1

Title: We All Fall DownRated: T for language and violent implicationsCategory: X-Men: EvolutionSummary: Wanda’s memory wipe has more affect on the people around her than originally thought. Pietro finds out the painful truth about his sister; John’s conscience gets heavy; Toad has only one thing on his mind; Magneto reveals his true intentions. Told from the POV of multiple characters.Disclaimer: I do not own what Marvel and Kids WB does. D:

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Eric Lensherr stared at the vile man standing in front of him with distaste. Jason Wyngarde was nothing more than a sneaky illusionist, but he was pivotal for Magneto’s plan. The man known as Mastermind cowered in front of the powerful Magneto.

“What do you want from me?” The older man asked with a small, frightened voice.

“I have a very important task I need you to complete for me. There is an extremely powerful mutant who is after me - foiling my plans.”

Jason swallowed and eyed the bigger man. “And you can’t do this yourself?”

Magneto glared and flung a steel chair at the cowering man. “Of course not! If I could do it myself, I wouldn’t have asked you, you imbecile!” Magneto took a deep breath and stared at the hairy man. “Do we have an agreement?”

Mastermind nodded slowly. “Who is the subject?”

Magneto smiled triumphantly at him. “My daughter, Wanda Maximoff.”

Jason’s eyes widened. “Your daughter? Why on Earth…”

Magneto slammed his fist down on his desk and glared, cutting him off in the process. “That is none of your concern!” The pitiful mutant had a lot of nerve to ask Magneto his intentions. Magneto knew exactly what needed to be done to Wanda - she was out of control again, and was greatly affecting the success of his goals of mutant supremacy.

Mastermind nodded slowly. “Of course, sir. Now, what exactly did you have in mind?”

Eric crossed his arms over his broad chest and huffed. “I want her brainwashed. I need all of her bad childhood memories in relation to her brother and I replaced with new, positive memories.” Magneto breathed and rubbed his temples. “I need her on my side.”

Mastermind held up a hand. “If I may, sir,” When Magneto consented, Jason continued. “My brainwashing is one matter entirely. I am not a telepath, but an illusionist. Projecting thoughts and images into one’s mind temporarily is one thing, but …”

“But what?” Eric asked, clearly annoyed. “If you can project pictures into the mind, then it shouldn’t be difficult for you to swap memories completely.”

Jason cleared his throat. “I have never personally attempted to permanently rearrange one’s mind that way. There could be - complications - that we may not even be aware of.”

Magneto eyed the hunched over man. “What sort of complications do you speak of?”

“Memories could become jumbled. If I were to take all of the bad memories, and have them changed entirely, there is a good chance that your daughter may experience issues of de-ja-vu; she may also be able to experience a void that would be completely unexplainable to her.” Jason cracked his knuckles nervously. “These sorts of instances could easily spark unusual behavior for her. Her mind may even reject the process completely, resulting in any sort of brain damage.”

Magneto nodded. “I see; would there be any possible way of her figuring out the process, or perhaps even reversing it?”

Jason thought hesitantly and shook his head. “I don’t believe so, not unless someone informed her. You would have to keep quiet about it around her, and possibly even remove any sort of souvenir from her past experiences.”

“It shall be done.” Magneto stated firmly.

Jason’s eyes widened. “You still want to go through with it, sir?”

Magneto glared at him. “I will have my Acolytes prepare for the procedure.” He paused dramatically. “You will not ask any more questions. Go, prepare yourself; if you are successful, I will reward you - you can be assured of that.”

Jason’s face betrayed him a bit. “Yes, sir. I will be ready whenever you are.”

Magneto stared at Jason’s back as he approached the large metallic door. “Mastermind!” He called him. “This is very important…for all of mutantkind. Once Wanda is out of the way, we can finally have rule over what is rightfully ours. She is our biggest obstacle.” Jason only stared at him a few moments before exiting the office.

Eric knew that it was his only option.

… … …

“You wanted to see me?” Pietro asked his father cautiously. He had been at home enjoying a television show when Magneto had beckoned him to the acolyte base. It had been the first time he had been called to his father’s base since he had been made the new ‘official’ leader of the brotherhood.

His first time since his father had disgustedly shooed him out of his sight for being such a coward with Wanda, and since he was picked up by the military. To say his father had been upset with him would be an understatement, which was exactly why the silver haired boy proceeded with caution.

The man may have been his father, but he wasn’t exactly someone Pietro could completely trust.

“Sit down,” The low voice of his father echoed through the room. Pietro’s eyes slowly followed the metal chair that slid across the floor toward him, and then moved slowly back to the figure of his father, who was not facing him. He grabbed the chair cautiously and lowered himself into it.

“Look, I’ve stayed under low profile, Wanda hasn’t been back to the house in days, and the team is fine! There is no reason for you to…” He didn’t get the chance to finish.

“I have a mission for you.” Magneto slowly turned to face his son. Pietro stared into the sharp blue eyes of his father and put on his brave face.

“Whatever you want.”

“I need you to go to Wanda’s room and retrieve anything that may have to do with her plans to - do away - with me, or anything that may have to do with the asylum.” Magneto held his hands behind his back and stared at his only son.

Pietro could only scrunch up his face. “The asylum?” He laughed. “She didn’t have anything with her when she came…”

Magneto glared at him. “I’m talking about journals, notes, photos…anything. This is very important, Pietro. I would think that a boy of your caliber would be able to handle something as easy as this. Will there be any more problems?” His eyes were stone cold, and his muscular body towered over his son with intimidation.

Pietro could only nod. “I can handle it.”

Magneto nodded and turned his back on his boy. “Good. Now get out.”

Pietro glared at the back of the man’s head dangerously. It was just like his father to get him to do his dirty work for him, and then treat him like a bag of turds. Eric Lensherr had never been known as a compassionate man, and the treatment of his own two children proved just that. Throughout his entire childhood, Pietro had been intimidated - scared even - of the man that he called his father. He had seen first hand what had happened to his sister when her emotions had gotten the better of her, so Pietro learned a lesson from her, and stayed on his toes whenever it came to the man called Magneto.

At that moment, he wondered exactly why his father would be sending him on a mission as seemingly silly as it was. What would Magneto want to do with Wanda’s things? Could it be possible that his father was going to hurt his twin sister? Pietro and Wanda had been through all sorts of rough patches, but there was no doubt in his mind that he still cared about her. He had watched her go that night; he stared, with rain and tears running down his face, as she was dragged against her will by a group of strange men.

Magneto had told him it was for the best. Pietro had gotten a taste of his sister’s powers about a month before she was committed, and he would be a damned liar if he said that the taste of the great power she held didn’t scare the shit out of him. At first, Magneto was ecstatic that one of his bastard children had finally shown a hint of mutant genetics. Wanda had developed her awesome power at the young age of eight, and had been committed only after a month of Eric not being able to control her.

The pathetic flatscan Pietro had been left to fend on his own with Magneto for another few years before his own powers would emerge.

He had watched the frightening act of abandonment of Wanda when he was a young boy. That was the last time he had ever seen his sister until she had come rampaging into the boarding house almost ten years later with nothing but revenge on her mind.

She had scared him as a child, and as an eighteen year old girl. However, as much as his sister frightened him, he still cared for her. Most of all, he still felt incredibly guilty for just watching her as she was manhandled by institution guards.

He perked an eyebrow at his father and folded his arms. “Dad?”

Magneto turned and glared at his son. “Why are you still here? I need your task completed by this afternoon!”

Pietro swallowed. “Why?” When Magneto looked like he was going to blow a head gasket, Pietro took a step back and held up his hands. “What do you want with her stuff? Is she…going somewhere?”

Magneto straightened up. “She needs help, Pietro. Her revenge is taking its toll; she has already gotten you apprehended by the humans, and she is preventing me from taking the final step towards mutant supremacy.”

“You’re going to kill her?” Pietro squeaked. “You can’t do that!”

Magneto rolled his eyes at the younger boy. “I am not going to dispose of Wanda, son. She merely needs assistance in forgetting her vendetta. It will make everyone’s lives easier.”

Pietro still did not understand, and it frustrated him that his father was dancing around his questions. “What are you going to do to her? Are you sending her back to the hospital? I don’t think they’re any match for her, you know.”

Magneto slammed his fist down on his desk and glared. “She is not going anywhere! I have brought in a mutant who can alter her memories to a more positive state.”

The idea hit Pietro like a ton of bricks. “What? You’re going to mess with her head?!”

“Pietro, it is the only way. I am going to rid of any memories of her being in the asylum, as well as any of her hateful feelings from the past few months. She will still be Wanda, only not angry.” Magneto sighed at his son, and turned his back on him once more. “I insist that it is for the better. It will help us achieve our objectives for our final plan.”

Pietro wondered if the plan was worth making chop suey of his sister’s brain. “Is that all that matters to you?” His voice was soft with fright.

“Pietro, not only will Wanda help aid us, but she will also drop her personal vendetta against you as well. No more violent attacks or angry outbursts. You should take this as an opportunity to get to know your sister again.”

The idea sounded tempting to Pietro. “But what if she finds out?”

Magneto turned to eye the boy. “This is exactly why you will be retrieving any of her possessions in relation to incident.” He picked up his phone and dialed an extension. “Yes, send Pyro to me. I would like to speak with him.” He hung the phone up and looked at his son. “You are to say nothing to her; as well, you will inform your team of the change and tell them to keep the process confidential. If she finds out,” Magneto stared at his son seriously. “The consequences may be dire.”

Pietro asked no further questions. As tempting as his father’s plan had sounded, something just didn’t sit well with him. He would definitely like to work on his relationship with his sister, but at the same time, he was definitely worried about the outcome.

He opened the door to his father’s office and stepped out into the long metallic hallway of the Acolyte base. When he reached the corner, he came face to face with the fiery Pyro.

“G’day, mate. What brings you here?” The slightly older boy had an amused grin on his face, and he clapped Pietro’s shoulder with his hand. Pietro immediately put on his game face for the other mutant.

“Oh you know, doin’ some dirty work for the old man. I’ve been waiting weeks for some action!” Pietro spoke at a speedy pace, but after sharing quarters with Pyro for some time, the Australian had gotten used to Pietro’s tongue.

Pietro snorted at the hyper active boy and began walking again. “Yeah, well, good luck with that.” Pyro only responded with maniacal laughter, leaving Pietro once again to his own thoughts.

… … …

John Allerdyce sat on a bench on the corner of 16th and Parkway. In one hand, he continuously flicked the lid of his Zippo lighter open and shut. In the other hand, he held a photo of his mission target. To look as inconspicuous as possible, he wore a long black trench coat to cover up his Acolyte uniform. It was a warm day, so the coat didn’t sit very well with the firebug, but because his target was just up the street, he couldn’t risk being caught out.

She was waiting on the side of the road; to John, it looked as though she were waiting for a taxi or bus, or any ride of some sort. Whatever it was, the girl looked extremely impatient and frustrated; Pyro was happy to keep some distance between them.

Although, he was absolutely surprised at the girl he was ordered to seek attention from. She was incredibly pretty with bright blue eyes, dark hair, and a curvy body. She screamed danger to him, which was something that swelled excitement and attraction within the pyromaniac. She was definitely intriguing to him nonetheless, and he was happy that he got the mission to stalk her.

Although it baffled his mind that such a delicious looking brat could be related to the old bucket head, Magneto.

Pyro was not a fan of his boss. In fact, the hyperactive mutant was counting down the days that a great, big-even-meaner-than-Magneto mutant came along and squashed the Master of Magnetism like a bug. At the thought, he could only hope that he had a camera of some sort with him when it happened, so he could have a memento of the man’s death.

In the meantime, however, Pyro had no choice but to work with the man. The down side was that Magneto was a megalomaniac sociopath that wanted nothing more than world domination. His ongoing spiels about ruling this, and taking over that bored Pyro. He didn’t give a shit if the man wanted to rule the world and he sure as hell didn’t want to be around when and if he did. On the upside to his situation, he was out of prison, and he got to use his powers freely.

He was born and raised in Sydney, Australia, and lived with his grandmother until he was fifteen years old. At that time, he had gotten into some trouble after some experimenting with his newly manifested pyrokinesis; while playing around in the tourist district, he had started a fire in a clothing store, burning it down to the ground. Once apprehended, he was thrown into a criminal psychiatric ward for juveniles. He spent three years locked up until Magneto had broken him out. Upon his release, he made a deal to work with Lensherr in return for his release and his escape to the United States.

Pyro would be the first to admit that he was in love with his powers. They always seemed to get him in trouble, but the firebug could just not help himself. He was in control of one of the elements; able to manipulate its size, heat, and his resistance at once. He caused all sorts of mischief with his powers for fun, and he was also very capable to defend himself with them if need be. While incarcerated, he was not allowed to use his powers at all, which left him feeling as though he had a lot of pent up energy that he could not rid himself of. Being free and able to burn his constant supply of energy made him feel alive and powerful; any deal that let him use his powers in a free and reckless way was tolerable enough for him.

His mission with Wanda was the first since the public ‘outing’ of mutants. He had been bored out of his skull as Magneto sent out Gambit, Colossus, and Sabretooth for their own missions - but he had yet to get his. He finally had the chance to do something fun, and he was going to do it with a bang.

He watched as a yellow cab finally pulled over to the curb in front of the female Maximoff. “Now where are ya goin’, missy?” He mumbled to himself. He retreated back to his parked motorcycle, and started the engine, heading west on 16th.

When the cab took the turn off and headed towards the heavy traffic of BayvilleBridge, he grinned to himself at the opportunity. He cut across a side field with his bike towards the underside of the bridge. At the bottom, he parked his bike and removed the trench coat. He powered up his flame thrower, and began to climb the side pillar of the bridge; he was going to get the cute witch’s attention.

Pyro found it endlessly amusing that Magneto was so scared of an eighteen year old girl. Of course, John was well aware of how powerful Wanda was; he wouldn’t doubt her ability for a second. It was just the idea of the almighty and feared Magneto being petrified enough of a young girl to want to erase her mind and fill them with good lies about him.

John actually hadn’t given Magneto’s plan much thought until that moment while ascending the bridge. He had to wonder how much logic was held behind his employer’s plan; he for one figured that the witch would be pissed off to hell and back, and he wasn’t so sure he wanted to be around when she came knocking on Magsy’s door for revenge once more. The girl was not much younger than he was - give or take a year - and had been institutionalized for much of her childhood, as had he. John could relate to the girl and her unstable mindset, and at that very moment he felt for her. If he had half the power that she did - and the opportunity to get back at the bastards that took away his life - he would probably be doing the exact same thing that she was.

Unfortunately, John had no say in either his or Wanda’s lives at the moment, so all he could do was continue climbing and moving forward with the plan.

Once he reached the top, he had quite a wait until Wanda’s cab would be visible at his location. He took a seat on the top of the bridge, and enjoyed the view of Bayville, and slipped a few fire balls between his fingers in anticipation.

… … …

Pietro opened the door to Wanda’s room cautiously; he had never been in there since she had come to live in the boarding house, and quite frankly he had no idea what was waiting behind the door. For all he knew she could have had a possessed pet crocodile waiting to chomp his legs off once he stepped foot on her carpet.

Of course there was no possessed crocodile, or burning pot of cauldron, or bear traps, so he was fine. Her room was actually quite clean and organized, which was very noticeable amongst the chaos that was the rest of the house. Her room was lined with all sorts of candles in differing shapes and sizes, and they gave her room a sweet and spicy scent. She had long red flowing curtains, and matching bed spreads, which were both in contrast with the black painted walls. Her room was a lot nicer - and had a lot more nicer things - than the rest of the boys in the house, to which Pietro credited to Mystique - probably as part of her decision to bring Wanda there.

She was one lucky bitch to say the least.

He closed the door behind him and turned the lock on the knob so that he would not be disturbed by one of the others, namely Toad. The only places he could guess that she would hide anything would be the dresser, the closet, or under the bed; they were the only places that would hold any such seclusion in the room. He decided to start with her dresser.

All of the drawers were filled with different pairs of pants, shorts, and skirts, with the exception of the drawer that was second to the top, which was completely filled with all sorts of jewelry, belt buckles, chains, rings, and hair accessories. He moved cautiously up to the top drawer, which housed all of her undergarments. At super speed he sifted through it all, and didn’t find anything of significance but a photograph in the bottom of the drawer.

It was the two of them, and they were only around eight years old.

Wanda was laughing in the picture; her long hair was swept across her forehead by the wind, and her eyes were brimming with amused tears. She had her arm around him, and he was making a goofy face with some icing on his nose. It was their birthday; he remembered that day very clearly because it was the last one they had spent together before she was sent away. When she wasn’t having problems with her powers, or angry with Magneto for exploiting them, she and Pietro got along well and were very close.

Perhaps that was the reason she was so angry with him after all; he had always been her closest friend until that day that she left. It wasn’t that Pietro agreed with what Magneto did - in fact he didn’t like it at all - but she was out of control, and he was only an eight year old boy who had absolutely no say in the incident at all. He missed her a lot when she was gone, especially because he was left alone with their unpredictable father.

It was only a matter of three years after she had been gone that Pietro was dumped off in foster care so that his father could work on mutant supremacy. Pietro’s powers hadn’t emerged by then, so Magneto wanted nothing to do with his only son. He had told the speedster on more than one occasion that his children were nothing but a disgrace to him.

The Wanda in the picture he held was a girl that he hadn’t seen since then. Just seeing the photo brought back so many memories; it also made him rethink his father’s idea. Even though Mastermind’s intrusion was morally wrong, he could get that part of his sister back that was visible in the picture. Not only for his sake would it be nice, but for Wanda’s as well. Pietro was sure that the whole time Wanda had been living with them she had never laughed. He thought that a laugh or a smile would do her some good, maybe then she could even have some fun and live like a normal teenager. With the process done, she could have that normalcy back that she had been denied at the asylum.

He placed the picture on the top of her dresser and approached the closet door and pulled it open. The shelves were completely bare, the bottom held nothing but a few pairs of combat boots, a pair of converse all-stars, and a pair of knee high Doc Martens. The rack on the inside held a few different coats, a whole bunch of tank tops, halter tops, a couple corsets, and a handful of t-shirts. The closet held nothing of significance.

He then zoomed over to the bed and peered under it. It was completely empty except for a few loose papers. Pietro pulled them out; they were only some drawings that she had done, and were what looked to be tattoo designs. He replaced them and stood with his hands on his hips. Where else would a girl hide personal belongings? He lifted up the pillows and found nothing underneath of them. He then went around all the sides of the bed peering under the mattress until he came across a small book.

It was Wanda’s diary.

He swallowed hard and sat down on her bed as he opened up the hard cover. He always figured when he was growing up that if he got to steal his sister’s diary it would be a funny experience where he got to see the boys that she liked, embarrassing things that happened to her, and what she thought of loser friends that she went to school with. Unfortunately, Wanda never got the chance to experience those things, and Pietro was not feeling giddy at all for reading her thoughts; in fact, he was scared of knowing what she thought and how she felt…and who she thought about.

The first ten pages or so were all poems that she had written. A lot of them were very angsty and unhappy writings - not about him, or his father, or the asylum, but about suicide and hurting herself. She wrote about how she hated herself and everything around her. He had also found another one where she dreamed of using her powers to change the world’s reality; she had the power of putting everyone on the entire planet under her spell. The poem talked about changing reality so that mutants were no better than humans, and there was no war or destruction in the world.

The thought of her being that powerful both intrigued and frightened him.

He flipped the pages past a few more poems and a couple of small drawings until he found the first entry. It read:

I’ve started training with an older woman so that I can keep my powers under control. I like her; she is very smart and knows a lot of cool witchery tricks. I do hope to learn some spells from her, that way they can help me when I finally do find Magneto.Pietro seemed shocked to see me; I’m glad that he is scared of me. He never said a word when Magneto locked me away, and he is just as much the enemy as father is. He still does everything that father asks of him, and it makes me angry to know that while I was locked away they maintained a healthy and nice relationship. Lucky him, the stupid prick.The blue woman who bailed me out seems nice; she gives me what I want when I want it. She let me spend over six hundred dollars at the mall for clothes. I wasn’t much into that yuppie teenage crap that they sold there, but they did have a really nice store called ‘Gothika’ that sold some pretty dark and beautiful clothing.I’m glad that I can be in a real house with real people now. The boys here are strange, except for the one called Avalanche. He seems kind of shut off and minds his own business, which I like. The Blob is kind of a pig, and I do not like the Toad. He disgusts me, although I have a great time showing his face to the wall. As strange as they are though, they are way better than those I shared space with in the asylum.I can still sometimes hear them screaming at night, but my nightmares are starting to go away. I keep a hex on myself so that the boys in my house cannot approach me as I sleep. I do not want nighttime visitors anymore. The men in the asylum hurt me a lot - I didn’t like when they touched me like that. I felt helpless and violated with them, and I will never show that weakness to anyone again. Someday they will die and feel my wrath.I wish that it were easy to forget, but it is coming along even if it is slow. Once I get my mind together, it will be very easy for me to take out my father.

Pietro dropped the book into his lap and sighed; they had hurt her there. Not only did she have to live with the betrayal of her own family, but she had nightmares and bad memories that didn’t let her function. He felt horrible. He was glad that - although she outwardly showed differently - she accepted the Brotherhood as a ‘real’ house of ‘real people’. Now that he thought about it, she probably would make good friends with Lance if she would give him the chance. Hell, he was even glad that hurting ‘disgusting’ Toad at least made her somewhat happy.

He picked the book back up and turned the page; there was another entry on it. This time, it was about Magneto appearing with the Acolytes. It read:

I finally found that stupid bastard. He was hiding out with some army of boys and showed the whole world his plans of mutant dominance. He is such a stupid man. His plan will never work, let alone will he ever get people to follow him willingly. I’ve done some research and found out that he blackmails his goons into working for him; I hope one day they see him like I do and they terminate him.Pietro is the only one that would follow him to the end of the Earth and back. My brother is so stupid that I actually feel sorry for him sometimes; who actually believes Magneto’s dog shit? I know that I wouldn’t. That man needs to die before something really bad happens. It already happened to me and I won’t let it happen to anyone else.I had the chance to kill him, but I completely got distracted by those pathetic X-Men. Not only that, after my release on Magneto was let go, he could have died being destroyed by a sentinel; once again my brother foiled that plan.Why won’t Pietro just let him die? Why can’t he see what kind of a man that Magneto really is? There are times that I wonder if he really is the same person that he used to be when we were actually friends all those years ago.This will not be the last time. I have plans of following Pietro to track down Magneto, and they will both suffer for what they let happen to me. No family locks up their daughter and sister to be beat and raped and savaged like a damn animal. They couldn’t even come and visit me; Xavier was the only man with enough gull to do that.For that they will pay.

Pietro could not read on any longer. He closed the book and tucked it away under his sweater to give to his father. As much as he was appalled by the fact that his father wanted to scramble Wanda’s brain, he agreed that she could do without the memories. Not because she wanted to harm him, but because he felt that he owed it to her for locking her up.

If he could be that much of a shitty brother and let her get locked up and brutalized, the least he could do was help spare her the nightmares and suicidal thoughts. He swallowed his guilt and made his way downstairs.